


Cold Autumn

by Mystic_Ender



Series: Dear Sunshine [3]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: M/M, prepare for a suprise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:07:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25670320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mystic_Ender/pseuds/Mystic_Ender
Summary: On Halloween night, things are discovered. Things Michael wishes would have remained where they were, never to be brought to light. But what is done is done, and he has to live with the consequences.Though, an invitation is given to him, and surprisingly, he accepts it. Because of this, slow realizations start creeping up on him...
Relationships: Michael Afton/Jeremy Fitzgerald
Series: Dear Sunshine [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1858189
Comments: 13
Kudos: 45





	1. Spooky Scary Skeletons

Halloween night. Something all children looked forward too, along with Christmas and their own birthday. It normally would have been a night Michael spent in his room, watching shitty horror movies on the living room’s old TV that he had brought in his room. The screen sometimes had random bars passing on it, making the image playing distort, but it was better than nothing. Though, apparently this year, it was his turn to watch his sister on her trick and treating hunt. Which, annoyed him to no end, since he had picked out the movies already.

“Mi-i-ike, I can’t find my fairy wings!” Elizabeth said from her room, voice panicking. She was supposed to meet up with a friend at the local park and then they would go to the houses of the neighborhood. He had asked if he had really needed to spend the night with her if another person would be there to watch her, and it earned him a stern glare from his father. So, here he was. “The mechanical ones Dad made!”

“You checked your closet?” He asked tiredly, getting up from where he was sitting on the couch. He probably would need to dig through her closet again, only to find them on the shelf. Then she would say she hadn’t seen them and cry that she was gonna be late for her meeting with her friend. He liked his little sister, truly, he did, but… she could be exasperating.

“I did!” She whined in front of the chest at her bed, digging through the various dresses and costumes that were in it. She had her pink and lace princess dress on, a discarded crown with stars on it laying on the bed. Various dresses ranging from green to yellow laid around her, and tears stung her eyes. “I can’t find them anywhere!”

“Alright, we’ll, uh, we’ll find them,” He tried to reassure, standing near the door. He slowly entered the room and took the discarded crown on the bed, putting it on his little sister’s head, trying not to ruin the complex braids she had going on. “Go check the basement, I’ll check Dad’s workshop, yeah? They might be there.”

“But Dad doesn’t want us to go into his workshop…”

“Then…” He looked at his little sister nervously, hoping she wouldn’t rat him out for what he was about to do. The door was often locked, and he would need to picklock it. “Then, that remains our little secret, yeah? It’s to find your wings anyway.”

“Okay!” Elizabeth cheered, hugged her brother, and quickly ran out of her room and towards the stairs that led to the basement. Michael waited until the patter of feet on the wooden boards of the stairs couldn’t be heard anymore before making his way towards the one door in their house that remained closed at all times. He tried to open it normally first and seeing it wouldn’t budge, it confirmed his father wasn’t inside.

He kneeled in front of the door and took some of the pins out of his hair to try and work this out. Normally he didn’t tie his hair back like this, but his sister insisted he put on a costume as well. Seeing he was still extremely bruised from his fight the other day, he simply added a bit of makeup, put old clothing on and styled his hair, and told his sister he was a scary zombie. It had been good enough for her.

A smirk appeared on his face when the door clicked open after a couple of minutes. The door hadn’t been too hard to unlock, but now he seriously regretted it from the smell that greeted him. It made him gag, and he quickly pulled up his shirt and held it near his nose to try and make it more bearable to breathe.

The workshop was scarily dark. No windows gave on the outside, and the only light in the room had its lightbulb removed. Spare parts covered the floor, and large, looming forms were in two corners of the room. One was way taller than him, and from what he could see, it was an animatronic with pigtails. Apparently he was working on another one. The second one looked about his height if only a little bit taller. She was much leaner than the hulking one in the other corner.

Finally, a table near the door was covered in spare parts, which Michael could barely recognize. He didn’t know what they did, and he truly did not want to know. He waited in the doorway, waiting for his vision to adjust to the dark before venturing in, avoiding plates of metal leaning on a wall, and threatening to topple down if even budged. There was another table near the animatronics, and he assumed the wings might be on there. That one didn’t look covered in parts, more like something that was actually being built.

As he neared the animatronics and the table, he noticed how strong the smell kept getting. He didn’t know what was causing it, but it was awful. He really wanted to run out and throw up, but he needed to find his sister’s fairy wings. One thing he noticed on the floor though, as he got near, was how there was something dried on the cold cement. He didn’t know what it was, since the colors didn’t really stick out in the dark, but he assumed it was simply old paint or oil that had never been cleaned out. When he reached the table, one thing he saw was how… humanoid the slightly shorter animatronic was. She had a human-like face, and plates of metal shaped like a bun were on top of her head. 

The plates of her chest were closed shut, but something was stuck between them. He reached his hand out and took what was stuck between the plates, tugging on it to dislodge it. He brought it close to his face, to try and discern what it was, and confusion seeped in once he noticed it was a lock of hair. It was the color of Elizabeth’s, a beautiful strawberry blonde. The only other person he knew with that hair color he knew had been his mother before she left.

A bad feeling seeped into his gut, and he approached the human-looking animatronics. He dropped his shirt from his face, needing his two hands for this. The smell got stronger and he almost threw up right there and then, but stopped himself. He put his fingers in the crack of the chest plates and opened them, and horror seeped in as he saw what was in it.

A decaying face stared back at him.

He shut the plates back and stumbled away from the animatronic. There was no way. His father was horrible, yeah, but he wasn’t… like that, was he? He couldn’t be. He wasn’t that bad of a person.

Yet proof was right in front of him.

He ran out of the workshop and closed the door shut behind him, leaning against it with all his weight. His heart was beating in his chest, and tears stung his eyes. He wasn’t safe. Was Elizabeth in danger, too? She couldn’t be. She had always been their father’s favorite, so she had to be safe in some shape or form.

“I found them!” A cheery voice yelled in triumph, approaching Michael holding the mechanical wings in her hands. They were fairly simple compared to the other stuff his father had made. They would move a bit once activated, only flapping open and closed along with her steps so that it wasn’t too heavy for her little back. Though Elizabeth stopped once she saw Michael’s face. “...Mike?”

“Oh, yeah, uh.” He cleared his throat and forced a smile on his face. He couldn’t worry about his sister, and she couldn’t know what their father was. Michael didn’t know how far his father could go to keep his secrets. “Come on, I’ll help you put them on.”

“Thanks!” She cheered, turning around after handing them to him. Once the wings were put on and her sister’s bag was grabbed, they walked out of the door and into the night. Children were laughing and walking down the streets, stopping at decorated houses. Theirs wasn’t, so nobody would hopefully stop to get some candy.

The path to the park wasn’t too long, thankfully. The only thing that made is problematic was dodging the cars that passed by, children smiling in them. Apparently some parents preferred driving around to walking with their kids. Which ruined the fun sometimes, but often the amount of candy gained from doing that instead of walking made it worth it.

“Donna!” Elizabeth eventually called out, running towards a little girl in another dress. He froze in his spot, wondering where he heard that name before, and once he saw who was walking along with the little girl, realization dawned on him.

Oh.

Shit.

Jeremy Fitzgerald was with his little sister, hair brushed back and wearing a classic vampire cape. Fake fangs poked his smiling lips, and Michael had to admit it made him look cute. Not that he would admit it to the boy standing there.

“Michael?” Jeremy said in confusion for a bit before the smile got brighter. He speed-walked towards him, and Michael nearly flinched and took a step back. “Didn’t think I’d see you!”

“It was my turn to walk with her this year,” He shrugged, trying to look as calm and collected as he could. He couldn’t have people asking if he was okay. Because he wasn’t. And he really was tempted to run to the police and tell them what he saw, but what he found would probably be discarded since then. But still, it wasn’t something he could tell anyone, even if that someone was Jeremy. He looked past him and towards the two girls who were already started to walk towards the nearest houses. “We should… probably keep up with them.”

“Shit. Donna!” Jeremy exclaimed, already speed walking to keep up with his sister. The two little girls were surprisingly fast on their feet, and the fact it was Halloween probably didn’t help. “Wait up!”

The night passed by slowly, most of it being a blur of houses and bad spooky jokes. Michael always looked back behind his shoulder when he felt watched, and every time he found nothing. He thought he was being discreet about it, but apparently he truly wasn’t.

The question was asked by the third house.

“Michael, are you okay?” The blond asked, watching as their sisters ran up the parking lot of a heavily decorated house. Fake cobweb covered the branches of the tree, fake gravestones covered the yard, and fake blood was dumped on the car to look like a brutal murder happened there. The question might have been asked because he paled seeing it. 

“Hm? Oh yeah, fine. Totally.” He spat out, panicking a bit. His gaze turned away from the car and towards the blond’s concerned look. He needed a cover-up story. Quickly. “Just stressed. Blood makes me feel sick and with the car covered in it…”

“Oh,” Jeremy answered, looking back at the car. Realization struck his face and he moved so that he was in front of it if Michael looked towards it. It was sweet, even if the blood making him nervous was a total lie. He could appreciate that. “There. Most I can do.”

“...Thanks.”

The rest of the night passed by easily enough, and by around midnight, they slowly started making their way back towards the park, where Michael would walk back home with Elizabeth. The freckled boy truly did not look forward to it. He didn’t know what he would find once home and it terrified him to no end. Though, he couldn’t show it, so he tried to keep a smile on his face.

“Hey, Michael?” Jeremy asked him once they reached the park. The blond looked a bit nervous, hand going to his neck to scratch it. “There’s a soccer match this Sunday. I already invited Fritz to come and watch it, but I would appreciate it if you’d come too. It’s my last match of the season, and we’re going to go eat after it no matter what. Just… I’d like it if you’d come.”

“Uh… sure?” He replied slowly. He had never been asked, and truly he didn’t see why he was being asked, but if it was Jeremy’s way of trying to become friends, he’d take it.

“Awesome! So, uh.. see you Sunday, I guess.”

That had definitely been the weirdest and most terrifying night of his life.


	2. "I'm Not Gay" He Says.

On Sunday, Michael had been more than happy to run out of his house to go to the soccer match he had been invited to. It was the school’s team against another high school from another small town. Nothing big, but just the fact that another team came over was big for some people. It was a good day for this, too, the sun shining brightly over their heads with no clouds in sight announcing rain. Granted, it was way too warm for it to be normal autumn weather, but it was better than nothing.

When he reached the field, one thing he noticed was the ridiculous amount of people sitting in the bleachers. He thought that maybe there would have been less than that, since well, the soccer team wasn’t the football team, but apparently he was wrong. Parents and grandparents sat, along with a good amount of students. They were most likely friends and girlfriends of some of the players because there was no way some students came simply to watch when they could have slept in.

Finding Fritz had been simple enough. They were sitting at the top, elbows on the railing behind them to keep people from falling off. Their bright yellow sundress was obvious, and the bright pink leggings underneath it certainly made them stick out. Their hair was tied back from the heat, and a stylish gold chocker hung on their neck. Seeing Michael come up though, Fritz raised a brow at him slowly.

“What are you doing here?” They asked, no accusation in their voice. They genuinely sounded confused at seeing Michael around, especially with the weird relationship he had going on with Jeremy. They didn’t hate each other, they weren’t acquaintances, but they weren’t friends either. “Didn’t think you were one for soccer,”

“Jeremy invited me,” He replied, shrugging as he sat down next to Fritz. He reached into his pockets for the pack of gum and popped one in his mouth. It was the only thing he had found that replaced cigarettes effectively. Granted, he blew a lot of money in a month on packs of gums, but if it meant allowing his lungs to heal to make his performance on the swim team better, then he’d take it. At the look that Fritz sent him, he glared back lightly. “I saw him on Halloween. Turns out Elizabeth is friends with his little sister.”

“Hmm, sure. You saw him simply because of Elizabeth,” They replied teasingly, earning themselves a punch on the shoulder. It made them laugh and they rubbed the pain away, but their look still softened. “How is she, by the way?”

“Good. Still Dad’s favorite.” He shrugged. Which was a good thing, too. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have allowed her to stay with his father alone today, not after what he discovered on Halloween. Granted, he was still terrified to leave her alone for more than an hour, scared of coming back and finding her gone. He had told himself he would try and be a better brother for her after CC, but he wondered if leaving her with a murderer that still hadn’t been found out counted as being a good brother. Probably not. “She’s been on a sugar high since Friday.”

“Figures,” Fritz replied with a small smile. They had a soft spot for Elizabeth despite her bratty nature when she wants something. She had a tendency of bugging you for something until she got it, but surprisingly enough, Elizabeth rarely did this around Fritz. Might be why the teen loved her so much. “Anyway, our team is getting on the field. The match should start soon. Pay attention, Jeremy has a tendency of speaking about his best moments after and if you got no idea what happened..”

“Yeah, yeah, got it.” Michael waved Fritz’s warning away and looked towards the field, where teens wearing bright red and white shirts started filing out on the team. Some had rolled up their already short sleeves up to their shoulders, the heat probably having gotten to them already. The other team, the school that had come out to their small town was already on the field in forest green t-shirts. “Where’s Jeremy anyway?”

“Shirt with 06 on it,” Fritz answered, not even bothering to look back at Michael who instantly started to scan the field. No wonder Michael hadn’t recognized him. He had tied his curly hair at the base of his neck, and he was one of the boys with the sleeves rolled up. One thing he noticed first, was that he looked really good with the air tied back. Then he noticed how it looked like Jeremy never skipped leg day. He stared for way longer than he probably should’ve, even if the blond probably didn’t notice.

Fuck. Jeremy looked scarily good.

“Are you gonna stop staring at Jeremy and pay attention to the match, or?...” Fritz said slowly from beside him, amusement creeping into their voice. A smirk was slowly stretching on their face, and it made Michael turn slowly beet red. 

“I wasn’t staring at him!” He hissed out, making sure to look away from the one member of the soccer team he knew. He tried keeping his eyes on the soccer ball, but his eyes kept dragging back to the blond boy on the field. “I’m not.”

“Hmm, it’s fine to admit he looks good you know,” Fritz said, a smirk still on their face as they stared at Michael. 

“I’m not gay.”

“Suit yourself, then.” They rolled their eyes and brought their attention back to the match happening in front of them. Michael was exasperating. Truly exasperating. Fritz was the one that grew up watching him stare at the little boys in the schoolyard and claim that girls were gross. They were the ones that probably knew something Michael didn’t know himself just yet. He’d figure it out one day, but Fritz might need to nudge him that way.

The match passed by fairly quickly, and Michael had a weird twist in his gut as the sweaty blond came to greet them after the match to go eat. The freckled teen stared at him out of the corner of his eyes as he and Fritz walked next to him, watching as his excitement was bright on his face. He clearly liked this sport, and his hands moved around quickly when he talked about his favorite moments when he played.

“...So, what did you think?” That snapped him out of his trance, and he watched as Fritz and Jeremy both stared at him for his answer. Fritz was more amused than anything, and Jeremy… he looked fearful. Scared of what, though, he had no idea.

“Um.” He cleared his throat, passing a hand in long hair that covered his neck. He had to admit he barely listened to what Jeremy was saying. It was embarrassing. He never got distracted like that, usually. “It was good. I didn’t understand most of the rules so I had no idea what was going on, but it looked like fun.”

“...Really?” He asked, his voice rising cheerfully. He almost sounded like an excited child that just got told what they always wanted to hear. It was adorable. “You thought of doing the tryouts this spring?”

“Um, no. I’m already on the swim team.” He denied quickly, and he swore Jeremy almost looked a little bit disappointed. “But, um. We got a competition this winter. You.. can come to see it if you want.”

“You wouldn’t mind?”

“Hm, no, we wouldn’t,” Fritz answered for him, a huge knowing grin on their face. Michael was very tempted to flip them off but simply went to shove some of his food in his mouth. “I’ll give you the date when we get it, Jeremy.”

Fritz wouldn’t let him leave this down, would they?


End file.
